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Arming the Kurds: Bad Idea?
I'm a little bit ignorant when it comes to the actual dynamics and historical circumstances of the current crises Levant/Iraq region. Obviously I know the politics and corporate imperialist invasion of Iraq by the US has caused the instability of the whole region to reach unprecedented levels, and that this instability was perhaps the intention of US foreign policy all along.
But, when it comes to the Kurds, who ISIS actually are and what they stand for, their relationship to Al Qaeda and the potential consequences of current Western actions (arming the Kurds, air-strikes on ISIS, arming Syrian rebels etc etc); I could use an education.
Can anyone give a bit of insight into who the Kurds are, what their significance to the situation is, and whether arming them (or anyone else for that matter) isn't going to end up as another shit storm?
Note: I know so far as that Saddam was killing the Kurds.
Thanks.
I'm Kurdish just to let you know
At the end of WW1, the Kurds were promised an independent state by European imperialists. They later took back that promise. Ever since then Kurds have been forming groups to try and win back their stolen land. A lot of it was very Socialist and Communist in nature. I would be correct in saying the since the end of WW1 more than a million Kurds have been killed because of the policies of the countries in which they were forced to reside in. Ataturk banned the Kurdish language, and changed Kurdish names to Turkish ones. He called us "Mountain Turks". As you very well know Saddam killed hundreds of thousands of Kurds simply because we are Kurds. In Syria hundreds of thousands of Kurds were not even entitled to citizenship. They were called "foreigners" by the Baathist regime. Similar things occured in Iran.
So it's a very sad history. Our language was banned, our culture was banned, even identifying yourself as a Kurd was illegal.
Kurdistan, the region where the Kurds live lies partly in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.
The Iraqi part has been defacto independent since the end of the first golf war.
The biggest problems with arming the Kurds with sophisticated weaponry (they had their own millitia called the peshmerga already for a long time) will be:
A. It will possibly enable the Kurds to conquer the towns in northern Iraq the lay a historical claim too but have been arabised by Saddam, since this is a major oil producing region this can further future ethnic strive and real independence of Kurdish Iraq which might destabilize other regions most notably Turkey but also Iran and Syria.
B. Iraqi Kurdistan is adminstrated by the Barzani clan, they stand in conflict with the PUK (who also have their own millitia) and the local version of the PKK (a former marxist-leninst group originating in turkey), electorally the Barzanis dominate Iraqi Kurdistan but esp in Syria and Turkey the PKK is dominant, this opens the possibility for renewed inner Kurdish violence, esp if the PKK hold on to their revolutionary program, where a well armed regular army stands against a experienced guerilla.
The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater?
Here at least We shall be free
Wha'? Are you talking about the PCDA (?). They are not an actor or player of any significance in Iraqi Kurdistan. They received 4,000 votes in the latest election.
pew pew pew
Of course its a terrible idea... Does anybody seriously still trust the US government with ANYTHING they do? The powers in the region need to deal with this, not the US, which would love more than anything to obtain more power in the middle east. Its not up to me about anything that happens apart from defying the US government.
For student organizing in california, join this group!
http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?groupid=1036
http://socialistorganizer.org/
"[I]t’s hard to keep potent historical truths bottled up forever. New data repositories are uncovered. New, less ideological, generations of historians grow up. In the late 1980s and before, Ann Druyan and I would routinely smuggle copies of Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution into the USSR—so our colleagues could know a little about their own political beginnings.”
--Carl Sagan
Anyone who believes any US aid would come without strings attached is urged to buy my stock of completely legitimate, slightly cubic gold.
Terrible idea.
Just like if Hitler had managed to invade Britain in WW2 there would have been British collaborators, as America invaded Iraq the Kurds collaborated. Not all Kurds are like this but many are, more than a significant minority. Many are the kind of racist, sectarian individualistic opportunists that Marxists should speak out against.
Notice how America did nothing while ISIS was rampaging through Sunni areas? But since the Kurds are willing American puppets and currently selling oil to Israel as it commits genocide in Gaza, they get saved.
I'm no fan of Islamic State, especially when they're fighting Assad, but this is one battle that I hope they win.
Obviously at the moment not, but the fact they do successfully control and defend an area in Syria at the moment and intervened in Iraq against ISIS while the barzani pershmerga fled and left thousands to die could bolster their support, esp under former PUK supporters.
Which is also one of the reasons the NATO countries are pushing for the direct arming of thepershmerga, they fear the "designated terrorists" who "want to break up turkey" taking a more substantial role in a oil rich soon to be independent or federalised Iraqi Kurdistan.
The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater?
Here at least We shall be free
Seeing as IS have already stated they will push and advanced into Kurdish territory the Kurds are now trying to centralize a coordinated joing effort under single command to push IS back.
The question of US/EU arming of Kurds centralizes around which factions they will eventually arm. The choices won't be altruistic and will probably be entirely aimed at strengthening one faction over the other with long term strategic goals in mind.
Or whether to arm them, at all?
For student organizing in california, join this group!
http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?groupid=1036
http://socialistorganizer.org/
"[I]t’s hard to keep potent historical truths bottled up forever. New data repositories are uncovered. New, less ideological, generations of historians grow up. In the late 1980s and before, Ann Druyan and I would routinely smuggle copies of Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution into the USSR—so our colleagues could know a little about their own political beginnings.”
--Carl Sagan
O? So you take sides in bourgeois conflict and openly voice support for a theistic regime?
jesus christ. will someone please restrict or ban this reactionary piece of shit already?
"Especially when theyre fighting Assad" was my favorite part of his post. Since Assad is such a great guy.
For student organizing in california, join this group!
http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?groupid=1036
http://socialistorganizer.org/
"[I]t’s hard to keep potent historical truths bottled up forever. New data repositories are uncovered. New, less ideological, generations of historians grow up. In the late 1980s and before, Ann Druyan and I would routinely smuggle copies of Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution into the USSR—so our colleagues could know a little about their own political beginnings.”
--Carl Sagan
This is already a foregone conclusion. They WILL arm the Kurdish factions through the CIA.
The US will arm who it wants to arm and ignore us. They don't really care what we "support." What this will mean though is the Kurdish state entering more fully the network of Capitalist states participating in global trade. This gives the Kurdish leaders more capacity to demand recognition as an autonomous or even independent state and trade commodities without getting sued by the Iraqi government.
Its unlikely for the time being that the Kurds alone could really stop IS.
"Who gives a fuck if some Takfiri nihilists commit genocide against some group I've never heard of, as long as they win and they spite the Americans"
Socialist Party of Outer Space
Even if the Iranian - Syrian bloc comes out victorious what we should expect is a fundamental change in standards. Both of these countries, having changed their standards of their enemy will naturally give "concessions" - what we can expect is the astronomical increase in religiosity for even the secular Ba'ath state. If anything, Saddam has proven this to be very possible. ISIS is a victory for Islamism with or without a long-term victory. They have put new cards on the table which evidently Liberalism is unable to properly confront. They even admit this - Nigel Farage, a reactionary politician said, to paraphrase that British soldiers will not win fighting against Islamic fundamentalism (this has largely been the consensus of European pro-russia neofascism). So if those in power are openly conceding that they cannot fight Islamism - the implications are clear. Only Communism can save anything that is worth saving about Liberalism.
The kurds are relatively progressive and are not likely to succumb to Islamism - however they remain fervently nationalist with absolutely no potential of universalizing their standards on, for example women in Arab countries like Iraq. I think that we have yet again reached another deadlock where I say very soberly that Communism is the only real weapon that can bury the facade of Islamic revival in the dustbin of history - just as it was the only weapon against the facade of 'national revivals' like Italian and German fascism in their strive to return to the glory days of the Roman Empire.
It is fashionable to go around and call everything Fascist but ISIS is a dead ringer. The Taliban in Afghanistan simply organized and re-asserted the rule of landowners, but ISIS is not a modest national party. ISIS proclaims to have long-term and very over-reaching ambitions that make them especially different from something like the Taliban. Furthermore they are not transforming anything on an economic level and are presiding over areas which were relatively developed. ISIS is the most pure modern emulation of Fascism, the facade of national revival (With Islam perceived as its own nation or 'umma'), this faux grand spectacle of world change like the thousand year Reich, mass mobilization, and so on. It's surprising that no one can see this. ISIS looks a lot more like European Fascism than any caliphate in history, that is for sure - this is evidence that they DO have a place within the global paradigm of capital, or at least their ideology does.
[FONT="Courier New"] “We stand for organized terror - this should be frankly admitted. Terror is an absolute necessity during times of revolution. Our aim is to fight against the enemies of the Revolution and of the new order of life. ”
― Felix Dzerzhinsky [/FONT]
لا شيء يمكن وقف محاكم التفتيش للثورة
What people do not realize is that despite this grand spectacle ISIS is not changing anything about the fundamental social foundations of life. No return to the social period which the previous Caliphates presided over - they claim that their ideology is perfectly capable of presiding over life as it exists today. This makes them distinctly fascist.
[FONT="Courier New"] “We stand for organized terror - this should be frankly admitted. Terror is an absolute necessity during times of revolution. Our aim is to fight against the enemies of the Revolution and of the new order of life. ”
― Felix Dzerzhinsky [/FONT]
لا شيء يمكن وقف محاكم التفتيش للثورة
So you like Assad, the Kims, and you support laws banning all kinds of substances (meaning you're oblivious to that communism is stateless). You're a Tankie (or troll). Also this: "Who gives a fuck if some Takfiri nihilists commit genocide against some group I've never heard of, as long as they win and they spite the Americans".
pew pew pew
Well there's a debate within the german left, in which one side proposes to arm the kurdish forces to stop the IS. I have to say that this may not be a good idea, when it comes to mantaining stability in the NE and Mesopotamia, however, the IS fascists need to be dealt with.
Oh my god thank you for writing this. IS-Islamism does indeed resemble fascism in some characteristics, for example the fusion of feudal and capitalist concepts, radical antimodernism and some sort of Naziesque collectivism (the Ummah - the Volksgemeinschaft).
La dialectique, peut-elle casser des briques?
And quite honestly it's something we shouldn't trivialize either. IS might fall tomorrow but the underlying tendencies and the ideology will remain alive and well. Especially in this character - just think of the notion that everything, the past two hundred years from the French revolution to now has all been a sham, that the whole modern experience is one big rotten apple in history. As Communists today, I think if there is anything that should summarize our immediate position - it is the defense of modernity against both the reactionaries and postmodernists. A fundamental principle in Communism is that the legacy of the modern era, despite everything, despite all the disasters and horrors is still worth fighting for as claimants to modern history.
[FONT="Courier New"] “We stand for organized terror - this should be frankly admitted. Terror is an absolute necessity during times of revolution. Our aim is to fight against the enemies of the Revolution and of the new order of life. ”
― Felix Dzerzhinsky [/FONT]
لا شيء يمكن وقف محاكم التفتيش للثورة
